Personal Selling

01-14/16-03
Complete Before Class
Read Futrell, et. al: 2
Complete During Class
[T] Student courses survey
Introductions
Review syllabus
Video: Day in the Life--Roerig
[H] Form groups
Quiz on Futrell, et. al: 2
Discuss Futrell, et. al: 2
Distribute and discuss buying/selling process model
Distribute and discuss Buying/Selling Interface
Selling Experiential Exercise (p. 37)
Video: Body Glove International

PERSONAL SELLING PROCESS
01-21/23-03
Complete Before Class
Read Futrell et. al: 6
Complete During Class
[T] Keven Mueller, Tim Corwin Toyota (11:00 A.M. and 07:00 P.M.) +++
Questions for the speaker
[H] Quiz Futrell et. al: 6
Discuss Futrell et. al: 6
Case 6-1 (p. 60)
Video: Alta Dena Certified Dairy
Video: Professional Selling—The Pre-approach

01-28/30-03
Complete Before Class
Read Futrell et. al: 7
Prepare for Exam—Futrell et. al: 2, 6, 7 ***
Send Journal #1
Complete During Class
[T] Quiz on Futrell et. al: 7
Discuss Futrell et. al: 7
Case 7-3 (p. 83)
Video: Personal Touch
Discuss: communication in selling
Quiz: communication in selling
[H] Write Exam—Futrell et. al: 2, 6, 7 ***
Discuss laws/ethics in selling
Video: Perfect Solutions, Inc. (ethical selling)

02-04/06-03
Complete Before Class
Read Futrell et. al: 8
Prepare SimSell Decision 1
Complete During Class
[T] Quiz on Futrell et. al: 8
Discuss Futrell et. al: 8
Exercise on communication problems
Case 8-2 (p. 106)
[H] Submit Current Decision Form, Group Productivity Report, Individual Score Card” Decision 1
View Group Productivity Report: Decision 1
Video: Professional Selling—The Approach

02-11/13-03
Complete Before Class
Read Futrell, et. al: 9, 10
Prepare SimSell Decision 2
Complete During Class
[T] Quiz Futrell, et. al: 9
Discuss Futrell, et. al: 9
Quiz Futrell, et. al: 10
Discuss Futrell, et. al: 10
Video: Arregen
Video: Professional Selling--Presenting the Product
Video: Professional Selling--Identifying Buying Needs
[H] Submit Current Decision Form, Group Productivity Report, Individual Score Card: Decision 2
View Group Productivity Report: Decision 2

Case 9-2 (p. 136)
02-18/20-03
Complete Before class
Prepare for Exam—Futrell et. al: 8, 9, 10 ***
Complete During Class
[T] Speaker: Paul Meyers, Salomon Smith Barney (11:00 A.M. and 07:00 P.M. ) +++
Questions for the speaker
[H] Write Exam—Futrell et. al: 8, 9, 10 ***
Video: Basic Sales Presentation: SmithKline Beecham
Video: Stouffer Esmeralda Resort

02-25/27-03
Complete Before Class
Read Futrell, et. al: 11
Send Journal #2
Prepare SimSell Decision 3
Complete During Class
[T] Quiz Futrell, et. al: 11
Discuss Futrell, et. al: 11
Case 11-3 (p. 197)
Video: Professional Selling--Negotiating with a Vendor
[H] Submit Current Decision Form, Group Productivity Report, Individual Score Card: Decision 3
View Group Productivity Report: Decision 3
Video: Professional Selling--Managing Buying Resistance

03-04/06-03
Complete Before class
Read Futrell, et. al: 12
Prepare SimSell Decision 4
Complete During Class
[T] Quiz on Futrell, et. al: 12
Discuss Futrell, et. al: 12
Case 12-2 (p. 218)
Video: Secrets of Closing the Sale (24)
[H] Submit Current Decision Form, Group Productivity Report, Individual Score Card: Decision 4
View Group Productivity Report: Decision 4
Video: Managing Information--New Tools for 90's
Video: Suggestive Selling--Chili’s Restaurant

03-11/13-03
Complete Before Class
Read Futrell, et. al: 13
Prepare SimSell Decision 5
Complete During Class
[T] Quiz on Futrell, et. al: 13
Discuss Futrell, et. al: 13
Case 13-1 (p. 240)
Distribute evaluation form for presentation
Video: Professional Selling--Closing the Sale
Explain Cialdini presentation
[H] Submit Current Decision Form, Group Productivity Report, Individual Score Card: Decision 5
View Group Productivity Report: Decision 5
Video: Personal Selling the Mary Kay Way

03-25/27-03
Complete Before class
Prepare for Exam— Futrell, et. al: 11, 12, 13 ***
Prepare SimSell Decision 6
Complete During Class
[T] Submit Current Decision Form, Group Productivity Report, Individual Score Card: Decision 6
and Group Productivity Report--Summary
View Group Productivity Report: Decision 6 and Group Productivity Report--Summary
Explain Cialdini presentation
[H] Write Exam— Futrell, et. al: 11, 12, 13 ***
Video:

04-01/03-03
Complete Before Class
Prepare to present Cialdini
Send Journal #3
Complete During Class
[T] Speaker: Anthony Cain, American Home Products (11:00 A.M. and 07:00 P.M.) +++
Questions for the speaker
[H] Discuss motive to avoid success
Discuss role stress
FIRO-B
Video: Power of Persuasion (56)
Video: Targeting the Woman Buyer

INFLUENCE IN SELLING
04-08/10-03
Complete Before Class
Read Cialdini: 1, 2
Prepare to present Cialdini: 1 (Group 1)
Prepare to present Cialdini: 2 (Group 2)
Complete During Class
[T] Quiz Cialdini: 1
Distribute Cialdini handout
Present Cialdini: 1 (Group 1)
[H] Quiz Cialdini: 2
Distribute Cialdini handout
Present Cialdini: 2 (Group 2)

04-15/17-03
Complete Before Class
Read Cialdini: 3, 4
Prepare to present Cialdini: 3 (Group 3)
Prepare to present Cialdini: 4 (Group 4)
Complete During Class
[T] Quiz Cialdini: 3
Distribute Cialdini handout
Present Cialdini: 3 (Group 3)
[H] Quiz Cialdini: 4
Distribute Cialdini handout
Present Cialdini 4 (Group 4)

04-22/24-03
Complete Before Class
Read Cialdini: 5, 6
Prepare to present Cialdini: 5 (Group 5)
Prepare to present Cialdini: 6 (Group 6)
Complete During Class
[T] Quiz Cialdini: 5
Distribute Cialdini handout
Present Cialdini: 5 (Group 5)
[H] Quiz Cialdini: 6
Distribute Cialdini handout
Present Cialdini: 6 (Group 6)

04-29/05-01-03
Complete Before Class
Read Cialdini: 7, 8
Prepare to present Cialdini: 7 (Group 7)
Prepare to present Cialdini: 8 (Group 8)
Send Journal #4
Complete During Class
[T] Quiz Cialdini: 7
Distribute Cialdini handout
Present Cialdini: 7 (Group 7)
[H] Quiz Cialdini: 8
Distribute Cialdini handout
Present Cialdini: 8 (Group 8)

05-06-03
Complete Before Class
Prepare for exam on Cialdini: 1-8
Complete During Class
[T] Speaker: Dave Howland, Results Radio (11:00 A.M.) +++
Questions for the speaker
Speaker: Michael Brooks, Results Radio (05:30 P.M.) +++
Questions for the speaker

05-12-03 (09:00 A.M.)
Complete Before Class
Prepare for exam on Cialdini: 1-8 ***
Complete During Class
Write exam on Cialdini: 1-8 ***
Complete Peer Evaluation Forms

05-13-03 (05:30 P.M.)
Complete Before Class
Prepare for exam on Cialdini: 1-8 ***
Complete During Class
Write exam on Cialdini: 1-8 ***
Complete Peer Evaluation Forms

INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS
EVENING CLASSES
The evening class will complete both Tuesday and Thursday assignments for each week.

GRADE DISTRIBUTION
You receive points on the following general basis. Note that more or less of an activity will alter the point distribution.
1. Exams: 4 @ 150 pts ea 600
2. Cases: 08 @ 10 pts ea 80
3. Text quizzes: 09 @ 10 pts ea. 90
4. Cialdini quizzes: 8 @ 20 pts ea. 160
5. Cialdini presentation: 1 @ 100 pts ea 100
6. Questions for the speaker: 4 @ 25 pts ea 100
7. Journals: 4 @ 25 pts ea 100
8. SimSell results 500
9. Peer evaluation 100

GRADES
Grades follow this point distribution.
90% - 100% = A 80% - 89% = B 70% - 79% = C 60% - 69% = D Below 60% = F

CONTACTING YOUR PROFESSOR
mwalex@mnstate.edu
218.236.2238 (fax)
218.236.4650 (office telephone)
218.236.7465 (home telephone)
Office: 207I Center for Business

OFFICE HOURS
T/H 08:30 to 09:30 A.M. and 01:45 to 03:00 P.M.
T 04:00 to 05:30 P.M. and 08:00 to 09:00 P.M.
W: 12:00 to 03:00 P.M. by appointment
Sa: 08:00 to 09:00 A.M. and 11:30 to 12:30

TEXTS
Your texts include (1) Selected chapters from Futrell, Mitchell, and Singer, ABC’s of Relationship Selling, a McGraw-Hill Primis Online text including SimSell and (2) Robert B. Cialdini (2001), Influence: Science and Practice, 4th Edition, Allyn & Bacon. The Futrell, et. al book will provide the selling processes and Cialdini describes the application of findings from psychology and social-psychology to the influence process. The SimSell Playbook explains the selling simulation game. I think you will find Futrell, et. al interesting, Cialdini fascinating, and the SimSell Playbook useful.

PREREQUISITES
Please complete Principles of Marketing before enrolling in Personal Selling.

CHANGES TO THE SYLLABUS
Changes to the syllabus may occur for three reasons. First, inclement weather may dictate cancellation of classes and a rescheduling. If the MSUM president cancels classes, any assigned material or exams will be due at the next class period held. Note that only the president can order classes canceled. Second, a mistake on the syllabus may require changes. Third, the students and professor may reach a consensus about a need for a change in the syllabus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COURSE
Virtually every product humans use, including the components which make up these goods and services, have been sold at least once, and often many times, by a personal salesperson. Because personal selling plays such a major role in marketing goods and services, the salesperson is central to the success of these products. As a result, the demand for salespeople has remained strong and will increase well into the 21st century. Given the solid demand, many college graduates take jobs in sales. This class prepares students to market themselves to prospective employers, positions students for entry-level sales jobs, and provides them with the background for movement up the organizational hierarchy into top management.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the semester you will have achieved the following learning outcomes.
Gain Knowledge. You will have internalized those concepts relevant to the personal selling process.
Apply Knowledge. You will have applied the selling concepts learned.
Teach Knowledge. You will have taught those behavioral influences relevant to the selling process.
Question Others. You will have asked questions of salespeople to aid your understanding.
Describe Perceptions. You will have described, in journals, your perceptions of the educational process
Meet Deadlines. You will have met target deadlines similar to those employers set.
Solve Problems. You will have learned to solve problems as a member of a team.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The objectives you will have accomplished by the end of the course include these.
Understand Selling Process. You will understand the steps in the personal selling process.
Understand Behavioral Concepts. You will know how psychological, sociological, social psychological, anthropological, economic and situational forces act upon the personal selling process.
Decision Making. You will learn how to allocate resources to maximize sales results.
Gain Experience. You will obtain experience applying selling concepts to marketing situations.
Speaking Experience. You will gain experience speaking before your peers.
Writing Better. You will write informal communications better.

EXAMS
I shall administer four multiple-choice exams on the dates listed on the syllabus. These exams cover the reading assignments. I will give additional quizzes on the Futrell, et. al text, the Cialdini book, and other material.

MAKE-UP EXAMS
Do not miss the regularly scheduled exams. Note the following points. First, only individuals who miss the regularly scheduled exams for reasons acceptable to the university and professor can take a make-up exam. These reasons include your unavoidable, verifiable illness and almost no others. Unacceptable reasons include weddings (yours or anyone else), vacations, rides home, memory loss, sleeping in, and most all other reasons of a similar nature. Second, all make-up exams are administered on Thursday of the last full week of class during my office hours or at another mutually convenient time. Third, the student must inform me, in writing, of his/her need to take a make-up exam at least one full week prior to the make-up exam date. The reasons for missing the scheduled exam and the chapters on the exam must be included in the request. Intentionally misleading statements constitute academic dishonesty. Fourth, the make-up exams are essay. Fifth, you can make up only one scheduled exam. If you miss more than one exam, drop the class and try again another semester. Sixth, you can make up the last exam only if extreme and unavoidable reasons exist for missing it. Vacations are not one of these reasons. Seventh, if your job will take you out of town on an exam date, you may sit for the exam before you leave. See me to arrange a time. See number six if you wish to miss the last exam.

JOURNALS
1. In the space for “Subject” always include Mktg 330, Journal # ? or MC 366, Journal # ?. I cannot file journals without this information and will send them back, unread.
2. Journals must consist of exactly one page, double or single-spaced. Skimpy journals will not be given full credit.
3. Use e-mail to send your journals
4. Forward your journals within 48 hours of the due date. I cannot accept journals before or after the 48 hours period. Do not ask.
5. Journals are due on Wednesday of the week assigned.
6. I do not evaluate what you write, but I do respond with comments and observations. Note that I do not take offense at anything you write.
7. Journal # 1. Introduce yourself to me. Write this journal to help me understand you better. Tell me as much about yourself as you want me to know.
8. Journal # 2. Tell me how you learn best. Do you learn best though your ears, eyes, or experiences? How do you know this?
9. Journal # 3. What does it mean to be educated? How can a person know when she/he is educated?
10. Journal # 4. What does it mean to be an adult? How does a person know when he/she has become an adult?
11. I do not grade the journals’ contents. If you turn in all of them you receive maximum points. If you don't, you don't.
12. Do not send your journal as a word-processed attachment.
13. I have two reasons for requiring journals. First, I use them to learn more about my students and their generation. Second, journals provide a convenient and easy way for students to interact with me. A visit to my office would probably be better, but some students have neither the time nor inclination to visit me personally.
14. I will do my best to keep your journals confidential. However, individuals with the skill and knowledge can compromise e-mail. Also, in the aggregate the content of journals may be used as part of an academic publication. However, individual students are guaranteed anonymity.
15. Use your own name on your e-mail account rather than some made-up name. I cannot file a journal without a name.

SPEAKERS
I have asked salespeople to share their knowledge and experiences with you. You will write five, or more, questions as they speak. At some point in each salesperson's presentation, you must ask some of your questions.

SIMSELL
The SimSell selling simulation game requires you to make time, service cost, and professional development decisions. Sales, profits, and salesperson compensation depend upon these decisions. Because the objective is to increase your sales and lifetime value, and the organization’s profits, these will be used to evaluate your decisions.
Scoring. The team with the greatest increases in sales, lifetime value, and profits will receive the highest scores. Teams with the lowest will receive the lowest scores. Teams that suffer decreases in these three variables will receive zeros.
Points. Maximum points given for sales, lifetime value, and profits are 25 for each per decision. Maximum points given for Total Operating Profit at the end of the game are 50.
Overheads. The Group Productivity Report for each decision and the Total Operating Profit report at the end will be copied onto overhead acetates and presented to the class.
Submit Forms. After each decision, submit copies of the Current Decision Form, Group Productivity Report, and Individual Score Card to the professor on the dates indicated.

CIALDINI PRESENTATION
Each student will help the class develop an understanding of a chapter in Cialdini.
1. Prepare an outline of the major points made in the chapter and distribute it to the class.
2. Use the concepts in Cialdini to create/devise class role-playing activities. The activities should illustrate the concepts.
3. You may need to plan ahead and ask class members to prepare for your presentation with out-of-class activities.
4. Professional sales people usually dress in business attire. Do your best to dress for success during your presentation.
5. Do not read to the class. Reading results in a 50% reduction in your grade.
6. You may not lecture to the class longer than 10 minutes.
7. Attempt to utilize as many of your audience's senses as possible: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.

PEER EVALUATION
At the end of the semester, group members will evaluate themselves and each other on participation and contribution to the group’s success. Anyone who does not complete an evaluation by the date listed on the syllabus shall receive a zero for his/her own evaluation.
The group may sanction in one or both of two ways any group member who does not participate in the work of the group. First, the group may refuse to place the nonparticipating member’s name on the projects as they are submitted for a grade. Second, group members may rate down the nonparticipating member on the Peer Evaluation Form.

SPECIAL NEEDS
I have experienced a gradual and permanent loss of hearing and wear hearing aids to compensate. Unfortunately they amplify background noise as well as individual voices. Therefore, I also attempt to speech-read to understand your speech. Because a hat usually obscures your face, avoid wearing a hat when conversing with me. And I ask for your patience when I request that you repeat a comment or question.
If you possess any type of disability or special need, inform me at the beginning of the semester. The university and I will attempt to handle that special need in a way that maximizes your learning experience.

IMPRESSION FORMATION
You might want to dress for success when you come to class. You will soon begin searching for a job and some of the speakers can help with your job search. They are more likely to form a positive attitude toward you if you wear business attire. In addition, you can practice wearing the business attire. During your job interviews you don't want to appear uncomfortable, as if you never worn business attire. Business attire also creates positive attitudes in your peers and impresses your professors.
Avoid wearing hats or caps in the building and especially in the classroom. Wearing headgear inside creates negative attitudes in older people. Indeed, experts on manners inform us that wearing headgear inside buildings violates cultural norms and is thus considered rude. Wearing a hat during an exam is prohibited.

ATTENDANCE
You are responsible for all material covered in class whether you attend or not. Students with excessive absences should drop the class. Failure to attend is not an excuse for anything. Students who miss the quizzes/ writing assignments or other things done in class cannot make them up. Students who miss their presentation times receive a zero grade for that presentation.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
Instances of academic dishonesty comprise a rare occurrence here. However, acts of dishonesty such as cheating on exams, submitting papers as your own when you have not composed them, stealing copies of exams, possessing copies of stolen exams, etc. should be avoided. The penalty for academic dishonesty may consist of a failing grade on the exam, paper, etc. or a failing grade for the course, and/or charges brought before the university administration.

COURTESY
Do not place your feet on the seats of other desks because neither other students nor I wish to sit in the glop your shoes will deposit. If you are extremely tired, you may want to sit on the floor and lean against the wall. Do not wear a hat in class.

KNOWLEDGE OF GRADE
My grading software permits a running percentage from assignment to assignment. If you wish to know your grade at any point in the semester, please ask.

TEACHING AND LEARNING
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MISSION
First, faculty members provide quality undergraduate business education through excellent teaching and appropriate majors in business. We therefore prepare students from the tri-state region for successful and responsible careers in business. Second, we conduct applied and instructional research. Third, we serve our students, Minnesota State University Moorhead, and the community within our region.

MSUM POLICY ON COURSE LEVEL
Upper Division Courses
Upper division courses are numbered 300 and 400. Typically they build on the background of the lower division courses. They may have one or both of the following characteristics.
1. They require analysis, synthesis, and integration of knowledge and skills from several specific areas in a discipline or from related disciplines.
2. They are built on a foundation of prerequisite lower division courses in liberal studies, a specific discipline, or a related field of study.
Upper division courses enable students to study a major field in depth by building upon and integrating the knowledge gained in lower division courses. Upper division courses may also serve as an introduction to sub-fields within a discipline.
Upper division courses are characterized by a more flexible structure that allows for a variety of approaches to the subject matter, a wide range of course material, an emphasis on independent study and/or research in the laboratory, library, studio or community.
Students are expected to accept increasing responsibility for their own learning both inside and outside the classroom. Upper division courses typically emphasize comprehension, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and application of knowledge. Evaluation of student performance at this level stresses such outcomes as comprehension and understanding of concepts, the ability to solve problems, and the ability to integrate knowledge.

A TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Teaching Is More than Lecturing
Traditionally, before the invention of the printing press, teaching required the instructor to stand in front of a class and read from a book. That is, he/she lectured to his/her students who attempted to remember the material. Even after the printing press became widely used and students bought their own books, faculty persisted in their old habits for at least four reasons.
First, lecturing is often easier and consumes less of the faculty member’s time than other methods of teaching. Second, lecturing boosts a teacher’s ego, especially when students pay attention. Third, many teachers do not know what else to do. And fourth, some teachers believe good teaching requires them to amuse their students.
Unfortunately no direct correlation exists between student learning and amusing lectures by faculty.
On the other hand, several problems exist with the lecture method that render it inappropriate for extensive use. First, only a few people can efficiently process information received auditorially, in the form of a lecture. Other people can process better that information presented visually, tactility, or in some other way. The lecture, then, probably doesn’t represent the best method for all people, or indeed for very many people, to receive information.
Second, humans possess a limited attention span. The adult human attention span is reported to be somewhat less than three minutes. After that amount of time a person’s attention will deviate from the material being presented. This fact is precisely the reason TV programming and USA Today provide short sound/sight bites rather than long, in-depth analyses of problems and issues.
Third, educators also know that people learn best what they use. Instructors who lecture learn the material well because they use it when they lecture. Unfortunately, students who receive the lecture fail to learn the material presented because they cannot use it. Moreover, they often can not relate it to any other material stored in memory. It seems, then, that the best way to teach requires the student to use what he/she is to learn. Would the human specie have survived if methods of procreation were taught only through the lecture method with no opportunity for practical experience?

Some Students Prefer the Lecture
If the lecture generally fails as a teaching tool, why do some students like it? Several reasons exist that explain this contradiction. First, some people like the lecture method because taking notes is easier than thinking. Learning requires the learner to think, to ask questions, and to try and apply the material being presented. Sitting passively in class taking notes seems easier than thinking. Second, students are accustomed to the lecture format. Their K-12 teachers lectured. Some of their college professors lectured. And we like familiar activities best. Third, some students want teachers to separate the unimportant from the important in the text because they don’t want to read the whole book. Unfortunately, no teacher can know which specific material out of a large volume of material will become important for each student over the next 40 years of his/her work life.

What Is Teaching?
What, then, should teachers do if they don’t stand in front of a classroom of people and talk? If they don’t lecture, do they still work?
A teacher’s job is to create a situation, an environment within which students can learn. Teachers cannot force students to learn, nor can teachers trick students into learning. Instead, learning is an active, participatory thing, accomplished through commitment and hard work. The most a teacher can do is create a learning atmosphere that does not stand in the way of learning. Of course, a teacher’s job also involves measurement to determine whether that which should have been learned was, indeed, learned.
Once students leave college they will spend the rest of their working lives learning on their own. Their employers will not lecture to them. Instead their supervisors will probably hand them product manuals with instructions to internalize the material in them by the next day. They will internalize the material before they show up for work the next day because they need the information when they call on their first client.

Teaching and Learning Will Change
Professional educators tell us that over the next few years teaching and learning will change. One scenario depicts students sitting in front of monitors interacting with educational software written by teachers. Periodically these students interact with teachers via e-mail. Indeed, this scenario already exists and is used by Capella University, University of Phoenix, and others.
I think additional changes will come soon. For example, virtual reality hardware and software will probably change the nature of teaching and learning within the next ten years. Before long students can experience marketing concepts, for example, directly in a virtual world with virtual consumers buying virtual goods and services.

HOW TO STUDY
After attending universities for many, many years, after more than 30 years of university teaching, and after attending a number of seminars in teaching and learning, I think the following study suggestions may help.
1. Study with other people. Use your team members as a study group or select others in your class to study with. Of course, prepare answers to the essay exam questions alone, but check your answers with others.
2. Read the text and prepare for the exams when the chapters are due rather than just before an exam.
3. When you read, interact with the text. That is, question what you read. Argue with the material.
4. Outline the chapters by reading a paragraph then summarizing it in one sentence. Write the sentence down then read another paragraph and summarize it.
5. Bring questions and issues to class for discussion.
6. Utilize the counseling center’s short seminars on study skills.

LAST WORD
I shall attempt to create an environment within which you can learn. If the environment isn’t working for you, see me.

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